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FLUX AND FLOWS OF PEOPLE, POWER AND PRACTICES: ISSUES RELATING TO SOCIAL JUSTICE213Muslim Women in Public Spheres: From Historical Narratives to Roles in the21 st CenturySubhatra BhumiprabhasIntroductionMuslim women in historical narratives, in the media,and from feminist perspectivesEven in the hands of a sympathetic writer, the nature of“national history” almost inevitably means that efforts toincorporate women will become an uneasy exercise ofinsertion rather than integration. (Barbara WatsonAndaya, 2006, 3).Narratives by Dutch East India Company merchantswho sailed to port cities in the Indonesian archipelagoin the 17 th century provide evidence of Muslimwomen who were active and influential in the publicsphere as rulers, merchants, traders, hired wives, and asfighters and commanders.European traders who arrived on the shores of theMalay Peninsula in the same century found that theyoften had to conduct business and trade with Muslimwomen from different socio-economic backgrounds.For example, Dutch merchant Peter Floris wrote thathe traded directly with the queen who ruled PattaniDarussalam. In Aceh, foreign visitors had tocompromise with a female ruler who set terms andconditions for them to do business in her land.In her book The Flaming Womb: RepositioningWomen in Early Modern Southeast Asia i , historianBarbara Watsan Andaya provides a story of “Taj al-Alam,” the first Muslim queen in Southeast Asia to usethe feminized title sultanah (Muslim female ruler).Historical records indicate that the queen was a devoutpatron of Islam and that she spoke to European menonly from behind a curtain.“Europeans who attended her regular Saturdayaudiences reported that she was well versed incommercial matters and alert to any threat to Aceh’sinterest; their accounts leave little doubt she was aneffective and forceful ruler”. (Watsan Andaya, 2006)Other foreign observers witnessed women playinginfluential roles in market places, ports and otherpublic places on the Malay Peninsula. HistorianAnthony Reid wrote in his study Female Roles in PrecolonialSoutheast Asia that the Dutch and Englishdealt with some formidable female traders. A womannamed Datu Newanan of Pattani was said to owemoney to the English. The Dutch in Aceh bought tinfor export from “another Acehnese woman”.However the roles of such Muslim women in theSoutheast Asia region are rarely present in the presentday“national histories” of Indonesia and othercountries.Even within Indonesian feminist perspectives,relatively little attention has been paid to the activerole of Muslim women in history. The bookIndonesian Women in a Changing Society, for example,in a chapter focusing on the Indonesian women’smovement in the period of 1928-1965, provides a verybrief line on the Acehnese heroine Cut Nyak Dien,who was proclaimed a National Hero of Indonesia in1964.Cut Nyak Dhien (1848 - 1908) was the wife of TeukuUmar, a leader of guerrilla forces in Aceh. After herhusband’s death she herself led guerrilla actions againstthe Dutch. The book touches on dominant themes inthe Indonesian women’s movement including “thelack of opportunity for women in public spheres”. Itcriticizes the current Indonesian media for offeringstereotypical images of women as sexual objects or asbelonging solely to the domestic sphere.In Thailand, where Muslim citizens make up 3.8percent of the population, the media offer few storiesabout Muslim women. Some of the images that haveappeared have originated with southern womenactivists who have portrayed Muslim women asvulnerable wives and daughters and as victims ofviolence. Women’s groups have tried to empowerwomen by portraying them not just as victims but alsoas “peace makers”. The latter image has parallels withthe view of the last Pattani female ruler as depicted inthe television drama Raya Kuning, written byTomayanti, the pen name of well-known novelistWimol Siripaiboon. The television show portrayed thePattani queen as a “peace maker” who worked for theThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows
214 Panel 5re-establishment of relations between Pattani andAyutthaya.About the research projectThis study explores the current situation of Muslimwomen in public spheres through the eyes andexperiences of Muslim women journalists.In conducting this research, many academic papers andbooks written by historians and feminist scholars wereconsulted. It was decided not to hold discussions withwomen’s rights groups, human rights activists <strong>org</strong>overnment agencies, in order to avoid the dominantand stereotypical images and perspectives depictingwomen in Muslim societies as victims of gender bias,tradition and religious belief.The researcher chose Indonesia as a research areabecause the country has the world’s largest populationof Muslims and is a multicultural society. Theresearcher interviewed and held group discussions withfemale journalists on their personal experiences asMuslim women working in public spheres in Jakarta,Yogyakarta, Makassar and Aceh. Topics for thediscussions included the women’s family backgrounds,their role models, their impressions of Muslim womenleaders, and their views on the roles and currentsituation of Muslim women in general.The paper also explores the roles and images of Muslimwomen in public spheres as presented in the Indonesiamedia. It explores the media images of two Muslimwomen leaders – the country’s first female presidentMegawati Sukarnoputri and the former financeminister Sri Mulyani Indrawati. The paper alsoinvestigated the depictions of women in thecontroversial film Perempuan Berkalung Sorban(Woman with Turban). The film tells the story ofAnissa, the daughter of a traditionalist leader of aconservative pesantren (Islamic boarding school) inEast Java in 1985. The researcher used a DVD copy ofPerempuan Berkalung Sorban as a tool for discussion.For the discussion about Muslim women in Pattani,southern Thailand, the author consulted academicpapers, news reports and articles, including theresearcher’s previous work published in the Thaimedia, including ผูหญิงมุสลิม: เรื่องเลานอกกระแสขาวจากชายแดนใต (Muslim women: unpublished stories fromthe southern border).The researcher has used a journalistic story-telling stylein this paper to provide insights into different actors.In particular, the views of female journalists from theAceh Feature news service are highlighted in order toreflect on the situation faced by Muslim women in thespecial region where shari’ah law is applied.A brief glance at Indonesia and Muslim womenIndonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population,with adherents of the faith making up about 87percent of the total population of 240 million (2010estimate). The country is an archipelago of about17,000 large and small islands. There are about 313ethnic groups and cultures with approximately 250spoken languages. Indonesia was colonized by theDutch for almost 350 years and was occupied by Japanfrom 1942-1945. On August 17, 1945, Indonesiaproclaimed its independence and became the Republicof Indonesia. Indonesia at present consists of 33provinces.The country is well known for its moderate brand ofIslam, and Indonesia’s media has welcomed the tide ofmodernity.Women in Indonesia are a heterogeneous group whodiffer widely in ethnicity, level of education,socioeconomic status, and political and religiousorientation. Today, issues relating to the roles andrights of women are discussed in many arenas, inparticular in the media and within the country’sfeminist movement.In the 21 st century, Indonesia elected MegawatiSukarnoputri as the country’s first female president.Megawati had in fact earlier won the largest number ofvotes (34 percent) in the first democratic election heldin Indonesia on 7 June 1999, but the fact that she was awoman led all the Muslim parties to prevent her frombecoming president and she had to first settle for theposition of vice president. Sri Mulyani Indrawati isanother Muslim woman who entered the publicspotlight as finance minister. Her role in rescuing thecountry from the Asian economic crisis in 1997 wonthe hearts of the Indonesian people.News media and cinema in Indonesia reflect thesituation of women from different perspectives. Whilemainstream media are often criticized for theirignorance of the female perspective, independent filmsand grass-roots communities find their own ways toThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows
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CULTURE, POWER AND PRACTICES:THE GL
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viABOUT THE BOOKCULTURE, POWER AND
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viiiACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe API Coordin
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x(co-authored with Gunawan Wiradi,
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xiiSri Wahyuni is the director of t
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xivThe gap between rich and poor is
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xviand development mainly: Economy,
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xviiiIn closing, I would like to qu
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xxmovements to defend their rights,
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xxiicomplex relationships between f
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xxivIndonesian Academy of Social Sc
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MULTIPLE MODERNITIES: GLOBALIZATION
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POTENTIAL OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGE AND PR
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Page 282 and 283: 255THAILANDAroon Puritat, Artist an
Page 284 and 285: 257RAPPORTEURSGarry MorrisonMarian
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263Panel 4: Multiple Modernities vi
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265out how Asian women politicians
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267CONTACT DETAILS (as of March 201
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